The Remnants
by Shadow of the Yakuza
Summary: Sakura encounters an injured wolf and decides to heal it. In doing so, she unknowingly enters a life full of stress as she finds out that the wolf she has promised to care for is really the missing Uchiha Itachi. ItaSaku
1. Encounter

The Remnants

A pair of red eyes glared mirthlessly into the mist with maniacal laughter resounding through the haze, refusing to cease. Out of the shadows sprung a wolf with mussed, dingy black fur caressing its skin as protection from the bitter cold. The crescent moon fumbled its way from behind a cumulous cloud, emanating a pale but fierce reflection of the sun's light. The wolf howled longingly to the moon, receiving no response to its embittered call. A single paw reached up, clawing hopelessly into the stoic and unrelenting air, refusing to allow this instance to come to pass. But it already had.

Sakura was coming back from a relaxing walk through the woods when she first encountered it, sitting there with a single broken paw and refusing to show its pain. It was a wolf, perhaps the same one that had been calling to the moon last night, the same one that had woken her from her nightmare. She glanced apologetically at the wolf, knowing that it wouldn't be right to heal the wounded animal. It was more proper to allow nature to take its course. So Sakura shook off her guilt and finished her walk home o get back to bed, for it was an hour or so past midnight and she had an important meeting the following day.

When Sakura woke up the next day, it was after no ill-mannered dreams, and she was pleased immensely. However, she had woken before her alarm, which was an abnormality for her everyday life, and she wondered what had caused her transference from the world of sleep to that of the waking. Sakura decided to just get ready for the events of that day and headed to the bathroom to do so.

She came out fully dressed and toweling dry her hair only to suddenly stop moving as she heard a scratching coming from somewhere near. Sakura absentmindedly dropped the towel that had been drying her hair and walked down the stairs, fearing that a rat would scuttle out from beneath one of her chairs. When the scratching continued, she located the source, and walked towards her window to see the face of the wolf she had seen earlier staring at her with its hurt paw flailing toward the window, reinventing the scratching noise.

"Oh, it's just you," Sakura said aloud to herself. "I was afraid that you were one of those vermin that infest Naruto's house."

Sakura sighed, knowing that she couldn't just leave the poor mammal out there without food or any way of getting any. She was too kindhearted to leave empty the begging hand of a child, so how could she refuse the wolf help when it was so persistent?

A flawless young hand with milky white skin undid the latch of the window and hoisted the rather heavy animal through the opening, careful to keep it from scratching wayward screws. The same hand put the animal down in Sakura's lap and held up the wolf's front right paw for examination.

"What did you do, put your paw through a paper shredder?! This is one messed-up paw, little mister!" Sakura said to the wolf, as if it could comprehend her speech. The wolf simply stared back at Sakura patiently, waiting for her to heal its paw. So Sakura gathered up chakra into her hands and slowly mended the torn flesh and ligaments. When she was done, she felt awed that this wolf hadn't cried out once when she was prodding its paw, for it surely would have hurt with all of the things that had previously been wrong with it.

"Well, you're all done now, you're free to go!" Sakura said cheerfully. "You know, you're better than most of my patients— many of them complain or say some perverted comment, but you didn't even whimper once! I think you're okay, little guy!"

The wolf snarled when Sakura said 'little guy' and she responded with a laugh.

"What's the matter, you don't like being called 'little guy'?" she asked the wolf, and to her surprise, the wolf nodded. "Do you have a name that you prefer?" she asked, raising a pink eyebrow. The wolf nodded a second time and placed its head in her lap. Sakura could tell that the wolf wanted to stay and she supposed that there would be no harm in letting it do so.

"Okay, I'll tell you what, if you can tell me what you would like to be called, I'll let you stay here with me. Is it a deal?" Sakura questioned and then felt silly. She had probably just been mistaking common head movement for nodding and the wolf in front of her was probably the average wolf, which meant that it was dangerous.

But to her surprise again, the wolf leapt up and bounded up her stairs and into her room to where her computer sat. The wolf glanced at the keyboard and then at Sakura, silently letting her know that it would type out the name.

The wolf's wet nose glided first to the 'I,' pushing it down in confirmation of its validity. Then the wolf pushed in the 'T,' followed in quicker succession by the 'A,' the 'C,' the 'H,' and then the 'I,' again. For the finale, the wolf hit enter, saying that he was done entering his name, for its organs surely proved it male.

"Itachi," Sakura said, trying the name out. Then she said more frantically, "Itachi!"

Her face portrayed a myriad of emotions ranging from fear to sadness and one could almost see her mind whirr as it singled out one question from the innumerable others flowing incessantly through her head.

"You aren't by chance, _the_ Itachi? Uchiha Itachi?" the wolf stared blankly at Sakura for a moment.

"Oh, of course you aren't, I must be going insane. It's just that Uchiha Itachi has gone missing recently, it's all over the underground news that even his partner, Hoshigaki Kisame, doesn't know his whereabouts. You couldn't possibly be him," Sakura finished, easing herself out of her previous frantic alert.

However, said frantic alert returned when the wolf typed a single sentence onto the keyboard, his typing skills getting better with each character typed.

'I am Uchiha Itachi.'

**A/N:** Well, this is my first fanfic under this pen name, and I hope you like it so far. Feel free to flame if you would like, as criticism is always helpful to the aspiring writer. Thank you for reading this.


	2. Saved

The Remnants

Sakura looked flustered and unsure of what she should do. She had given her word to the wolf, to Itachi, that she would let him stay with her. Sakura hadn't gone back on her word since she was old enough to understand the misgivings of such an action. After five minutes of pacing around the room and a lick on the cheek from the wolf, Sakura decided that it would be harmless, actually beneficial to keep Itachi at her house. She could keep an eye on him and make sure that he caused no harm, and no one would know. Besides, she had always wanted a pet; she just never expected to have a wolf.

"Well, I suppose there's no harm in keeping you, as long as o one finds out," Sakura told the wolf reassuringly, as the poor thing had looked massively worried.

Itachi's wolf muzzle nuzzled into Sakura's sock-clad foot in thanks. Then the wolf stretched like a person would right after a particularly restful nap, which reminded Sakura of how dirty Itachi still was. She didn't want her immaculate house to be dirtied, so she got to work at once.

"Itachi! Come here, you need a bath!" Sakura ordered. "Oh, don't give me that look, _I'm_ not going to wash you, you can wash yourself! And try not to make a mess! On second thought, I'll just carry you," Sakura finished, scooping Itachi up into her waiting arms. The unsanitary, black-furred wolf made itself comfortable in Sakura's arms, snuggling into her chest as if it were a young child in its mother's arms, although the intent was not quite the same.

Sakura put Itachi down on the floor mat inside her lavatory and drew the bath for her new… pet whilst humming a tune that sounded unnaturally similar to "Riot" by Three Days Grace. One could only wonder how such a sweet young _Naruto_ character could come to know such a violent song created by a Canadian band.

When the bath was finished filling, Sakura lifted Itachi into it and left, telling him to wash himself with the soap that she left floating next to him. She seemed sure that the wolf was capable of such a task and left the room to make breakfast for herself and find something to give Itachi.

Fifteen minutes later, Sakura had finished partaking of her breakfast and walked up the stairs to check on Itachi. He was sufficiently clean and waiting to be taken out of the bath and dried off, which Sakura aided him with, although the proud wolf shook his own fur dry, spraying Sakura and the walls with water. He gave Sakura an apologetic glance and then started down the stairs, waiting at the bottom for Sakura to catch up.

"Are you hungry?" Sakura asked, and the wolf nodded. "Well, I have some raw fish and also some yakisoba noodles, because I wasn't sure if you'd retained your human palate or not." Sakura laid said foods in front of the wolf, who sniffed surreptitiously at both foods, and then decided that he would prefer the yakisoba.

"Well, I have to leave you here, I'll be back in a few hours, so don't get yourself in trouble. I might bring you back something because you've been good, and you're free to use the television. Good bye!" Sakura said, heading out the door towards her meeting with the Kazekage. Itachi just sat there, staring after her and wondering if he would bore himself to death, as there are only so many things that a wolf can do to entertain itself.

An hour later, Sakura was let out of her meeting and was walking in the general direction of the marketplace when she noticed that someone was following her.

"Yes," she asked, turning around so as to face the person.

"Hello, Sakura," answered the person, leaning in close to her ear as they did so and licking the shell of Sakura's ear after completing that last syllable.

The person, a fair-haired and evidently perverted male stepped toward Sakura, backing the unknowing girl up against a wall and then blocking her against the wall with an arm on either side of her head.

"We're going to have some fun today, aren't we Sakura?" the man said, moving his face closer to Sakura's.

Sakura tried to speak out against the man, to break free, to move at all, but she found that she couldn't.

"Ah, so you enjoy the effects of my jutsu? I thought that you were a great ninja, but you have been caught off guard by someone who is not even a ninja. For that, you must be punished, but don't you worry, you'll have the best punishment of your life…" the strange man finished, cupping Sakura's chin with one hand while the other moved to the front of her shirt. Sakura's eyes held a look of anger and horror at what the man was doing to her, and it was easy to tell that she was frustrated with herself for not noticing him use a jutsu on her. The man's hand was exploring a spot on her shirt where it wasn't welcome. The man's lips moved closer to Sakura's and were just millimeters away when he suddenly fell to side, and Sakura could move again.

Sakura's eyes flitted about to find her knight in shining armor, and her vision settled on a certain acquaintance of hers that was currently mauling and maiming the pervert that had just sexually assaulted her. Unfortunately, the man was dead before Sakura could stop her friend, but she smiled nonetheless.

"Come along, Itachi," she said. "And thank you for coming when you did. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there."

With that said, Sakura picked the wolf up, kissed its forehead, and scratched it behind the ears as a reward.

"You're not so bad, Itachi," she continued.

**A/N:** The second chapter is completed. I hope that you enjoyed reading this rather than feeling as if you just wasted precious time in your life reading this. Again, whoever would like to, feel free to flame, because I welcome whatever criticism you give. Oh, and someone was commenting on how it's strange that Itachi became a wolf when his name means weasel. Well, there's a reason for that, one that shall be revealed much later in this series. Thank you for reading this.


	3. A Sleep

The Remnants

Sakura took Itachi with her when she went training, and to her surprise, the wolf wanted to spar with her. Unfortunately, however, even though the wolf was armed only with several kunai and shuriken throwing stars, Sakura could not beat the immense ninja skill that was hand in hand with the mindset of Uchiha Itachi. She lay sprawled across the grass, panting, and wondered if Sasuke would be able to beat Itachi in his wolf form, because Itachi seemed stronger than the last and only time that she saw him fight, which was peculiar in itself. How does a wolf become so skilled with simple weapons? But the thought of Sasuke dampened Sakura's already wilting mood, and she decided to get some ramen with Naruto, as she had promised the poor boy, and then head home.

As she sat next to the waiting Naruto at the brink of the counter in Ichiraku, she realized that the wolf currently climbing up onto her lap would be hard to explain to Naruto.

Although, Naruto seemed preoccupied with his large bowl of ramen at the moment, so what went unseen could remain so.

As Sakura slowly ate her miso ramen, she snuck some noodles to Itachi when she thought that Naruto wasn't looking, and she was in the process of doing such when Naruto spoke.

"Um, Sakura-chan, you have some weird animal on your lap. Wait, why are you feeding it, it could be rabid and bite you and kill you! I'll protect you Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed while trying to remove Itachi from his cozy position on Sakura's lap. That was a rash and inconsiderate decision on Naruto's part.

Itachi felt threatened by Naruto and also still had the instincts for trying to capture the Kyuubi, which resulted in Itachi pinning Naruto to the ground outside of the ramen shop with Sakura attempting to pull Itachi from Naruto who was yelling insanely at the wolf to get off of him.

"Stop trying to hurt Naruto, Ita—" Sakura began, but then realized that she shouldn't use Itachi's name within earshot of Naruto. The kunoichi managed to wrestle Itachi from Naruto who looked at the wolf like it were embodied evil.

"You named that evil thing?!" he asked exasperatedly.

"Hey, he's not evil, and I didn't name him, he came with a name!" Sakura said, defending her new pet.

"Don't defend that greedy mongrel! I'll bet that he only stays near you for the food and free home!" Naruto continued, insulting Itachi.

Itachi was going to make Naruto pay for that jab at his character, but Sakura wisely restrained him.

"He is not a greedy mongrel, stop insulting him! And I doubt that he stays with me for the food, because I haven't given him much of that. He may be staying with me for a free home, but he's still been a perfectly good wolf lately, haven't you?" Sakura asked, looking to the wolf, who seemed proud of himself. When Sakura looked away, the wolf smirked at Naruto, showing that Sakura liked him better.

"See, I told you, that wolf is evil! It's smirking at me, look!" Naruto yelled. Sakura rolled her eyes as she walked away, not even bothering to respond. Itachi followed at her heels like a well-trained dog, although he wouldn't enjoy his loyalty being referred to as such.

The two walked back to Sakura's house, and with it being late in the evening, prepared themselves for sleep.

Sakura sat in front of her television set with Itachi curled into a ball of warmth beside her, watching some strange romantic comedy. Sakura laughed as the main character fell down the stairs and into the arms of their crush, only to knock their crush over and earn both of them a detention. Then she turned to look at Itachi, and noticed that he was asleep.

"Aww, Itachi, you look so cute when you're asleep, I wonder if you look that cute when you're asleep in your human form…" Sakura pondered. Then she thought to herself, _Did I just say that out loud? Tell me that I didn't! That's embarrassing! Even if it is true, I don't want Itachi to be subconsciously aware that I was wondering if he looked cute when he was human!_

Then Sakura calmed herself down with a few deep breaths, telling herself that wolves couldn't subconsciously record information like humans could. She ignored that little nagging voice in the back of her head that said that Itachi could probably still do that because he was human inside of that wolf.

Sakura pushed open the door to her room with her foot and realized that she had never gone out to get Itachi his own little bed, so she set Itachi down at the foot of her bed. _I guess that it's not really bad to let him sleep there; I mean he _is _a wolf_, Sakura thought to herself as she climbed into bed.

And a minute or two later, the land of dreams had her under its spell and she was asleep.

* * *

Sakura's eyes flitted open as she regained the normal conscious state of the world. It was around three o'clock in the morning and having gone to sleep at ten o'clock, she was tired and wondering what had woken her up. Sakura wasn't the type of person who woke up sporadically for no reason.

Sakura looked all around the room for something abnormal. Perhaps Itachi wanted an early morning snack? Sakura decided that whatever had woken her up definitely had to do with Itachi as her eyes narrowed on the heavy pile on her bed that was on her feet. Getting up slowly so that she didn't disturb the pile that Itachi could still be on, Sakura stood at the foot of her bed, scrutinizing the pile to try to see what exactly it was composed of. She decided that she couldn't get the slightest idea of what the lump was without having he light on, so she stepped to the switch and flicked it, sending beams of fluorescent light from her lighting fixture.

The beams fell harshly on Sakura's night-adjusted eyes, and they illuminated a shocking sight. Sakura could only rub her eyes and try to convince herself that this wasn't true, that she was dreaming. But there, in all of its black-and-red glory, lay Itachi's Akatsuki cloak. And beneath that cloak, well… It was Uchiha Itachi, and not in his wolf form either.

"Merciful Heavens above, please allow me to wake from this nightmare!" Sakura whispered desperately to the Heavens. For she knew, that even as horrid as it was to have Itachi lying on her bed, curled up in his human form, it was even worse to know that he _was_ just as cute sleeping in his human form, in fact, the way his hair swept across his face took away all of her fear of the mass-murderer. And his gentle expression gave the impression of someone loveable, which made Sakura was to embrace the missing-nin. And she knew, wholly and fully, that such an attraction was dangerous, and that she shouldn't think such things. But when a sleeping Uchiha Itachi is sleeping at the end of one's bed, how can one feel any other way?

**A/N:** Sorry that this chapter was late. And, again, feel free to flame, or criticize however you like, because it really helps to know what I need to improve on so that I can do better in the future. However, I _do_ already know that this chapter doesn't really have much content, and I apologize for that. Thank you for reading this.


End file.
